Cantina Balam — Restaurant in Mérida

BEWARE IF YOU'RE AFRICAN AMERICAN

PRO: The live music/band was Amazing! Even though you are not allowed to dance.

CONS: Being that it's in my profession to do reviews and such it is with great disappointment I leave this one. Unfortunately, not only didn't my family and I have a very unpleasant and "overbearing" experience but also left such a sour taste where my "impromptu" review is needed. We intially made arrangements to visit Lanegrita Cantina, however, it was closed and google the nearest loctaions with live music and good reviews. We came across Cantina Balam and was very excited to walk to this attraction to make the best of this experience. We were greeted by "Ricardo" or something as such but( he's the short, overweight man with open sores on his arms). He spoke "ok" English and was intially nice to us at the door. He proceeded to escort us to our seats on the patio and made suggestions to drinks. We order our drinks and to our surprised it was very much "watery juice). We didn't complain being we were enjoying the vibe. We were asked if there was anything else we needed so we did ordered something stronger, shots. Apparently, he took offense that we didn't like his drink selection, which boggled us to why he then acted so rude. After we received the shots, he comes back to our table and speak about food selection. We informed him, we weren't hungry and wanted to just drink and would look over the menu later. This is when he completely did a 360 with being "Demanding and Overbearing". He left our table to whisper something to another staff, we wasn't paying much attention being at this time the band was setting up. We noticed more people were coming on the patio and that Ricardo wasn't bothering the other patrons as he was doing us. We hate to throw the race card but we were the only African Americans in the establishment. Moments later the waiter brings is a plate of "cheese sticks" to our table , which we didn't order and didn't want to be charged for anything we didn't need or want. When Ricardo noticed that we were trying to explain we didn't order the dish, Ricardo came to our table and demanded we eat it! Which at this we were completely APPALLED. He informed us to order food being it was a protocol when serving alcohol. We had no problem with that but the issues were 1. HE ORDERED and chosed what WE were going to eat! 2. He was spiting over the same food he demanded us to eat from(Yes, he took off his mask). 3. We literally watched a Hispanic come in after us and wasn't interrupted nor demanded to order food.As I tried to explain to him being he was scaring my elderly mother, we had no problem ordering food but he was wrong and had no right to choose what we would order! Especially, anything with cheese! He was still not understanding and STILL put the item on our check. We ended up paying our check and leaving immediately being that we felt very attached and uncomfortable. I hate to say but this made is feel very indifferent about how(SOME) Merida's locals treat...

My fiancé and I stopped by here after another cantina was full. Our server was very kind and attentive, bringing us drinks whenever we asked. To our surprise, he also brought little bowls of popcorn and chicharrones with hot sauce to the table, which we loved. Sadly, the margaritas didn't taste like they had any alcohol in them, and I didn't care for the flavor of the mixto they used. We ordered beer and shots of tequila instead, which were full to the brim.

We decided to go back another night, and unfortunately, the server from before hadn't arrived. Instead, we were waited on by someone else who was much less attentive. We didn't receive any botanitas, which was disappointing since that was the main draw for us coming back the second time. We ordered different drinks (a Paloma for me and a daiquiri for my fiancé). They were as underwhelming as the margaritas from the other night. So we went back to our usual shots and beers.

All in all, we probably wouldn't go back, but it was fun the first night. Seems to attract a younger crowd, so if you're into that kind of thing, it would probably be a fun spot.

We didn't end up ordering food, so I can't comment on that. We would probably have stayed and ordered; however, we decided to head to another restaurant hoping the drinks would be...

We were looking for another bar but found it closed. Loud music attracted us to Cantina Balam and it was full of people, so good atmosphere. Unfortunately the food and drinks didn't match that. As another review (which we saw later) mentions, the drinks are very watery. My girlfriend usually gets drunk from one cocktail, she had a pomo (950ml) of sangria and didn't feel a thing. My cerveca clamato was just beer watered down with tomato juice (and probably water too). The food as average at best as well. In my opinion, this is a tourist trap full of Americans. Fortunately, we found La Negrita and Mezcaleria La Fundacion after this, which are so much better in...